Spizzzarko

Just because we see the pro's doing things, it doesn't automaticly give us license to pursue that course of action. These people have thousands of jumps on the same canopy, and are probably far more current than you or I can ever hope to be. Take a step back and master your basics before you start something new. When we hurt ourselves it does a lot mre damage than we think. It impacts the business of the DZ. Every person who see's an ambulance scream out and away from a DZ is probably more hesitant to go and start jumping. Less money for the DZ, less money for the instructors. A lose lose situation all around. Also if you laid up at home, then your wife, girlfriend, boyfriend or whatever has to hear you bitch and complain about the pain and suffering "you" are going through, just because you tried to do something out of your league. That's all I have to say about that.

Look People, There are 7 cell canopy's, 9 Cell's, 11 Cells, 21 cells, 27 cells, 33 cells (testing phase by Icarus and PD), and this 36 cell thing by Cobalt. Just accept it, that's the way it is.

I have an RSK-1 113 reserve and a Velo 103 (new), and it packs up easier than my VX 98 in my NJ. It takes a little technique, but it can be done rather easily.

I think it's because the Cross braced canopy's are a little more rigid than the conventional 9 cell, and it takes a little more work to get one to move. I noticed this too. I also found that my turn rate was slower on a cb than a non cb. Are you jump numbers correct in your profile?

VX 98 Packs up like a 135 or slightly bigger or slightly smaller, depending on humidity. Why do you ask about those two sizes? Your not going to be one of those people who say they are going to buy a canopy way out of their league and put it on the shelf untill they are ready for it, are you? I have people tell me that, and it just irks me.

A canopy loaded at 2:1 is probably not the best canopy to actually land on rears with for the first time.

Why did you even post that?

Usually the tape is on the toip of the slider, but it shouldn't really matter.

Check it, We use PD-300's as our student mains up here at the AF academy. The ones we have, have a "Positive" opening. We jump them quite a bit up here in Colorado. After they open they fly pretty good, as long as you are planning for the winds. You can catch some good lift with them and stay up for awhile if you know what youy are doing. I have stayed up for 25 minutes deploying at 3,500. I caught some good lift and climbed up to 4,700. I could have stayed up even longer, but my arms where getting tired. You may get better openings if you are jumping down at sea level. The 300 isn't a bad canopy. With a little practice you can put it down anywhere. I would highly suggest rolling the nose when you pack it. I do the left and right 4 cels into the center cell and pull the slider way out in front of the nose. That seems to help out some. I hope this helps you out some. Good luck with the canopy and please be carefull out there. Grant S. Adams

I was down at coolidge last January, and I was flying my 104 FX with the bird suit. I had a rather monster swoop and tried to pop it up for the nice shut down(It's hard to run in the bird suit...), but I ended up eating it hard. Well, Orley King (Chonical series videos) walks up to me and says... " If your going to go for the glory, sometimes you have to pay the price.". That has since then been stuck in my head.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I havn't had a good laugh like that in a while. I remember in the not so distant past when there was a picture of Mr. Slaton under what they called a "GX" and there was a giant hype and hoopla about that. It is also my experiance that half the people here can't even land the canopy's they're currently jumping, very well. Maybe it's time for some of us to take a step back to the basics.

The only problem I have with mine is when I'm the main side JM on an AFF dive, and the student decides he wants to deploy my Neptune instead of his main. Yes I dirt dove what not to grab on to, but I guess he forgott that at pull time!!! I will admit the wrist velcro thingy is pretty strong, because this guy was pulling on it like mad. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about... When the Main JM on an AFF dive has a harness grip his or her altimeter is usually sits right next to the Pilot chute. I have had this happen a couple of times so I decided to start dirt diving what not to pull on with the student, but every now and then it happens.

Cut Away : EVERYTHING Reserve : SUCKS

If it outrages you that much then head South to STR. You and I'll do some swooping!!!!

I have been to his school,and found it to be very helpfull.

That's pretty impressise... Triming the a's and b's that is. Seems like a shitty fix to a shitty problem. Kind of like adding 42 more holes (a second bar tack) to an already weak line attachment point, and charging your customers to do it. But hey, that's why I jump PD reserves. We all make our own choices. Grant Adams (that's who PD would call if they wanted to sponsor me)

I've used the NEPtune a couple of times. I think it's pretty nice, but it does have a lot of Gee wizz info in it. Pretty cool little thingy if you ask me. I'm going to buy one.

Looks like we are talking about the same thing then. I love it when we see eye to eye.

OK Stilletto swoop. You do you turn too high, the front riser pressure builds up and the canopy planes out on you (the shorter recovery arc thing). Your in full flight (toggles all the way up giving no input), but the canopy is still not losing altitude, but it is slowing down. The canopy slows to the point where it's airspeed can no longer create the required amount of lift to suspend our fat asses(mine being fatter than others). Now the canopy is starting to lose altitude and regain some of the speed it lost from it planning out (assuming you are not giving any controll input). This may feel like it's almost stalling, but trust me... It's nowhere near the stall point. It think this is what your describing, and it's maddening when your learning to swoop on these canopy's. As far as the canopy gaining altitude when this happens, that would be caused from improper brake settings or a canopy that's out of trim. I have seen people jumping the old "ragged" out stilletto's, and they do a low toggle turn and it dives a little and then with relativly no input it kind of pops up and then just sinks to a tip toe landing. They definatly needed new lines. I hope this clears up what I'm trying to get accross. Oh, BTW your friend Aaron, the Academy Cadet, is a very talented canopy pilot. He and I where doing some swoops on Saturday.

If you told this to PD they would tell you to send it in for line replacement. Let's get back on track with the original intent of the thread. Yes, stilletto's and heat waves have a notoriously shorter recovery arc than some of the canopy's that are popular today. Also with the stilletto, with a properly timed turn, it will plane out on it's own. That's how some people are getting the monster swoops out of these canopy's. Face it, a stilletto is about 11 years old, and back then many people where doing the toggle whips to final. Now it's more common for people to use front risers for landings. Look at the number of people posting in this forum with 50 jumps talking about fron riser use!!! 5 or 6 years ago, people with that low jump numbers using front's would probably be banned from a DZ, but that's another story. Now the canopy's on the market have a tendancy to dive quite a bit more, because the manufacturers are realizing that's what people want. As far as your stilletto or heatwave (I have owned both) is concerned, I strongly believe the phenomenon that you are talking about is caused from your brake lines being to short, or your outside lines being shrunk from your slider. But should the canopy climb up or slow dramaticly down? Hell's no... That's a major defect in the canopy if you ask me. I think some people really don't realize is how IMPORTANT line trim becomes when you are wanting to wring tho most performance out of your canopy, and some people are making decisions about a canopy because of the poor performance of out of trim canopy's.

I believe that comes from the canopy being set up improperly. If you canopy is "climbing" after you give it a controll input, then you have a serious line trim problem... Canopy's are meant to dive, If you made a canopy that climbed, you would successfully be one of the few people in this sport to actually make lots of money. Than we could phase out the airplanes. That would be good, because we wouldn't really have to deal with the FAA that much.

Let's get away for this use of the words "Positive, negative, and neutral" when it comes to rocovery arc. Look at it... We are talking about the distance that it takes for a canopy to return to the state of controlled flight, meaning how the canopy flies with no controll input, or full flight if you will. Distance is usually measured in increments being longer or shorter, and I'm not really sure what the hell you guys mean buy a "neutral" recovery arc. It sounds like a bad medical term, "My dog came down with the "Neutral recovery arc" and I had to put it to sleep." Let's face the facts... 1. No two canopy's have the exact same recovery arc. Some are going to be longer, and some are going to be shorter. 2. Very few canopy's of the same make and model are set up exactly the same. Look at brake settings, line wear,ect., ect., ect... Some recovery arcs are going to be longer, some are going to be shorter. 3. Recovery arc is going to be dependant on many different factors. Namely, brake settings. If your brake lines are short then you are telling your canopy to creep out of the dive you have put it into because your lines are creating a controll input in the tail of the canopy. I cant tell you how many people I see flying around with their canopy's set up improperly due to short brake settings, twisted brake lines, and even line shrinkage.

I think when you are describing a positive recovery arc you are meaning a short recovery arc, and a negtive being a long arc. A short recovery arc is when your canopy has a tendency to pull out of a dive with little or no input and relatively little altitude loss. A long recovery arc is when the canopy doesnt really pull out of the dive or when it loses a lot of altitude in the dive. I hope this helps you out some.

When it comes to buying your first rig, I would definately go with used gear. First of all you are going to crash and burn on some landings. No need to tear up a new custom rig... Second of all, you are probably going to down size after a few hundred jumps. Your not going to get the return on your investment if you buy a new rig and then sell it a short time later. As far as rig choices, there are quite a few quality rigs out there, but there are also some that you may have a hard time reselling, if you know what I mean. So if your going to buy something talk to your rigger first.

I've landed a tempo 170 and 150. The 150 stalled out at a very high speed on me and knocked the shit out of me. The 170 was allright. I have also landed a Raven 218. It didn't really perform very well. Most recently I have landed a PD-126R. There was no wind, and the Density altitude was 9,500' msl. I did a surge approach, and I only had to step it out 4 steps. Also you really don't hear about PD's blowing up very often. All reserves have to pass the TSO test, so I think it just comes down to personal preference of what you want for your last chance. Choose wisely...